


Nox

by Kinkajou710



Category: Elemental (Webcomic)
Genre: "I opened my eyes but it's not going away", "Ugh that stupid jerk", All hail Queen Stang, Angst, Aurora has nightmares a lot, Aurora is aroace in this, Elemental is on Scratch, First work for this fandom YES, Gen, Half the chapters will probably end up being nightmares, I headcanon Aurora as aroace, I've had this idea for months lol, Nightmares, The name "Bella" won't stop being weird so, This fic is mostly based on two lines of dialogue, Unless i run out of new ideas for them, Yeet i'm finally making it, angst again, highly probable, i tried to fix it three times, oof, still says BELla
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15983849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinkajou710/pseuds/Kinkajou710
Summary: We know virtually nothing about Aurora.She hasn't shown up since Ep.3.She has two lines of dialogue that are a mystery.Time to solve it!(The first episode of Elemental can be found at https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/115045203/)





	1. Prologue

_Darkness._

_That’s all I knew._

_It was dark._

_I was trapped._

_I had to escape._

_I tried to get out. I tried to push my way out of it, to control it. I knew I could. I had before. I just had to focus._

_Focus._

_Focus._

Focus.

_It didn’t work._

_It had me._

_It stole me away._

_I was gone._

_I woke up._

And suddenly, light.

I woke up to a pounding headache, and light.

I recognised it.

I’d been here before, in a dream.

I could escape.

I closed my eyes.

_Breathe in… breathe out…_

 

I opened my eyes, but it’s not going away.


	2. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora is in elementary school in this chapter (and the next few).
> 
> Reminder in case you haven't read the tags: Aurora is aroace in this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alyssa, Bella, and Lizzy are just random names I came up with for this chapter. They might show up or be mentioned later, I'm not sure yet.

“Aurora! Truth or dare?” Alyssa asked.

I thought for a second. On the one hand, I really didn’t want to tell them any of my secrets if I picked truth, but I also don’t like doing most of the dares that the others come up with, and they’d definitely call me a chicken if I decided not to do the dare. I didn’t want to have to do the chicken dance at my first ever sleepover.

“Truth.”

Alyssa squealed. “Who’s your crush?”

Thoughts streamed through my head.  _ Crush? I don’t think I have a crush. I mean, Luke from my class is kind of cute, but I don’t think I  _ like _ like him. _ “I don’t have a crush.” I finally said.

The others looked at me. “What do you mean? I have like, three crushes.” Bella asked. “You’re sure you don’t like anyone?”

_ Do I like Luke? I don’t think so. _ “I think so.” I responded.

Lizzy gasped. “You  _ think _ so? Who do you maybe have a crush on?”

I shut my eyes. “I don’t want to tell. I don’t know if I even do have a crush on them.”

Alyssa sighed. “Fine. This game isn’t fun anymore anyways. Let’s tell scary stories! Does anyone have one?”

“Ooh, ooh, I do!” Lizzy exclaimed. “It’s about a GHOST at SCHOOL! It’s so scary!”

Bella’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.” Lizzy nodded.

“I don’t really like scary stories…” I said quietly, but no one heard me. I whimpered softly and clutched my blanket tighter, as though it would protect me.

Lizzy’s eyes darkened as she began the story. “Okay, so a long time ago, back when the school was being made, there was this worker. And the people running the construction made him make the attic  _ alone _ .”

“There’s an attic?” I asked. I couldn’t remember ever seeing one or hearing about one.

Lizzy grinned. “Not anymore. Just wait. So this guy was working in the attic, and it’s really dark and high up. And it’s hard to see, because there’s no light and he just has a flashlight. And suddenly… He hears nails, and they’re being pounded into the spot where he gets in and out, and he tries to tell them that he’s still up there, but they can’t hear him. So he gets shut in the attic. And guess what?”

“What?” Alyssa squealed.

Lizzy took a deep breath to create suspense, which worked too well for me. “HE DIED IN THERE!”

I squeaked.

“And then, he was really mad at the construction people for trapping him in there, so he came back to haunt the school! And they say that he looks like a shadow,” I was getting really scared at this point, “and sometimes, at night, he finds kids and wraps them up in shadows, and takes them away.” My eyes flew open. I hadn’t even noticed that I’d shut them. This was too real, too much like my nightmares. “And no one knows where!”

That was the breaking point. I started having a panic attack, though I didn’t know what it was at the time. I started panting, but the others were too buys throwing suddenly popcorn at each other and laughing to notice. Then I started hyperventilating and sweating, and my powers went haywire. I’d never used them before, but I knew what I could do. I’d accidentally absorbed all the light in my room before, and my brother, who’s a light as well, had to restore it. I’d never used my powers since.

Until now.

Darkness slowly enveloped the whole room, starting from me. My eyes went black. Soon enough, the darkness started spreading from room to room, and it filled the entire house. I noticed it happening and tried to stop it, but it didn’t work and I just got more scared and it went faster. I heard screams, and that was what brought me back to my senses. The darkness receded a little bit, and I could see again, but barely. They screamed at me, asking why I’d done that, how I’d done that, calling me a freak. Tears streamed down my face, my eyes no longer black. I was scared and embarrassed.

I ran home.

I lived almost two miles away, but I ran the whole way back without stopping. I’d taken all of my stuff from Alyssa’s house. Once I got home, I ran to my room and collapsed in my bed, sobbing. I’d ruined it. I’d  _ ruined _ it! I had friends and now they hated me. I was alone again.

Sobs racked my body as I cried myself to sleep that night, hoping the nightmares wouldn’t come. But they did, and stronger than ever.


	3. River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's another dream! It's her first time seeing the forest in her nightmares, although she's seen the darkness before. usually, she's just running around in the dark, trying to either get away from something or get out of the darkness.  
> This chapter is really short, but I wanted to end it there. Next one will be posted soon, maybe even today! Maybe even today! Maybe.

_ I was back at Alyssa’s house, and we were smiling and having fun when suddenly, their eyes were black. And the darkness came again. It took me away from there, and for a moment, I was glad. _

_ But then… _

_ There were eyes. Lots of eyes. _

_ I felt myself floating like I was being carried down a river. I looked down and saw it. It was like pieces of fabric made of darkness and shadows had been weaved together, overlapping. It was almost beautiful. They were rippling, and there were layers of blacks and greys within it. But I felt the danger. I knew that this river of darkness was not taking me somewhere nice. _

_ I began to cry. _

_ And then I heard a voice telling me not to. They tried to comfort me, telling me that they’d do whatever they could for me. I heard one call me a “Source”. Then another. And another. And soon, they were all chanting “Source! Source! Source!” I felt a little bit scared, a little bit powerful, but mostly just confused. _

_ And then there was light. _

_ I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I knew that I’d reached the end of the river. It deposited me on something hard, and it hurt, which was unusual for a dream. I looked around. I’d never been here before. I was lying on a large slab of concrete, curled in a ball, with my right arm tied by a rope to a wooden pole. I didn't know where I was or what was happening, but I want to leave. I closed my eyes… _

_ And opened them. _

And I was back in my room.


	4. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora confides in her brother. A long speech ensues. Get ready for background!

My eyes wide open from last night’s nightmare, I quietly hopped off of my bed. My bare feet touched the carpet and I peeked at my clock. 4:32am. The only person who’d tolerate me at this hour was my brother, so there I went. I opened my door fast to avoid the creaking that it made when opened too slowly and creeped through the hallway to my brother’s room. I eased his door open so that it would creak and wake him up.

He stirred in his bed and made some kind of noise indicating a question. “It’s me.” I whispered.

He turned over towards me and squinted. “What the heck are doing up?”

“Nightmare.” I said simply. He understood. I’d come in there for that exact reason multiple times.

He sighed. “Come on, Aurora. You can sit in my bed and we’ll talk about it, okay?”

I nodded. “Thanks, Ammy.” I walked over to his bed and sat down on it, pulling the covers over me and cuddling up to him.

“What was it this time?” He asked.

I took a deep breath. “Well, there were these shadowy people, and a shadow river, and I was going down it, and I was scared, but the shadow people started trying to comfort me, which made me more scared. And they called me a ‘source’.” Amery’s eyes widened and I paused, but he waved me to go on. “And then I was in a forest, tied to a pole, and I was really scared, and so I closed my eyes. And when I opened them, I woke up.”

I looked at him for reassurance, but he had gotten up and was pacing the room. “Aurora, you can’t tell mom and dad about that. Not yet, not now.” I tilted my head in confusion. “Here, I’ll explain. You’re young, so mom and dad haven’t told you yet, but you need to know.” He sighed. I could tell that he’d never wanted to have this conversation, and definitely not at 4:40 something in the morning, but it looked like he’d prepared for it. “Our family is one of the oldest ones around. You know that, right? We’re also the oldest light family around. In order to keep our family ‘pure light’, we sometimes… well, ah, inbred. A lot of older families have done that. Some still do.” That seemed like an absolutely disgusting thing to do to maintain ‘power purity’, as it’s called, but I let him continue. “Anyways, along the line, someone mutated the ability to control darkness instead of light. Said person also had the ability to create shadow creatures. The creatures called the person their ‘Source’, and when they eventually created their own society, they took the Source with them. No one knows where they are.

"The next generation, another person had that ability. They disappeared. And the next person, and the next. We figured out that it was the shadow creatures were taking them.” That made sense to me, but I could tell that there was more to the story. I kept listening. “One time, a Source came back, and they told us that they had been taken to a forest, where they were used to make new shadow creatures. The creatures treated them like a slave, used only to make new shadow creatures.

"The Source also told us that some of the other Sources were still there, from other generations, though most had died of old age. The creatures usually had about three or four Sources at a time. But the most interesting thing the Source told us was that it wasn’t the shadow creatures taking them. It was our family.” I gasped. It wasn’t something that I’d expect out of our family, but as I thought about it more, it was something I could see us doing. “The older members of the family had tried to keep it under wraps, but the secret was out. _We_ were actually supplying the shadow creatures, and willingly.

"The Source said that they’d been taken and dumped on a pad of concrete, tied to a pole, for the shadow creatures to take. They’d tried to escape, but the creatures found them. The next night, the Source was gone. That was five generations ago. No one’s come back since.”

I was shaking in Amery’s bed, terrified of what would happen to me. I’d never tried to make a creature before, but I had the distinct feeling that I could. “Amery?”

He turned towards me sharply. I hardly ever used his actual name. “Yeah?”

“Don’t ever tell mom and dad, or anyone, about what I can do, okay?” I asked. There was no way I was letting them get me. I wouldn’t be a slave to the shadow creatures. I couldn’t let myself be.

He seemed to hesitate, but it was so quick that I shrugged it off. “I promise, Aurora.”

“Thanks.” I huddled further into his covers, and he sighed and came back to the bed. He crawled in beside me, and I fell asleep cradled in his arms.


	5. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora tries to use her powers and things ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Actually writing my fanfiction? Surprising.
> 
> What's not surprising? How much Gary saved by switching to Geico!

I paced my room, concentrating. I’d been trying to create darkness for some time now, to no avail. “Come on room, go dark! Light, please turn off? Pretty please?” Surprisingly, it didn’t work. I groaned and flopped down on my bed. “Seriously? I do it involuntarily all the time! Why won’t my powers work?!” I demanded of no one. There wasn’t a response, to no surprise. “Ugh. All I want… Is darkness. That’s it! Darkness! Blackness! No light! WILL THE LIGHT JUST GO AWAY ALREADY?!”

Suddenly, it happened. It actually went dark. It started from my hands and started slowly expanding outwards. I squealed with delight. “Oh my god… It’s working!” I’d used my power before, of course, but never intentionally.

My excitement made it go even faster. Soon enough, almost all of my room was pitch black.

It was expanding from my hands, just as it had done at The Sleepover, four years ago. I still remembered that day vividly. The way they’d yelled, how scared they’d been, how scared  _ I’d _ been. And while they didn’t know it was me, I knew. And I was terrified that they’d find out and be scared of me, I still was.

I didn’t realize that I was hyperventilating until I heard my door creak open, and I momentarily abandoned atheism to pray to whatever God might exist that it wasn’t my parents.

Thankfully, it wasn’t. It was Amery.  _ Thank God! I think. _ I thought that I relaxed a bit, but apparently not, because he looked both like he was worried about me and like he was gonna murder whoever made me like this.  _ I can give you  _ names _ if you want. I know  _ exactly _ who made me ashamed of my powers. _ “Aurora?” He asked, attempting to disguise his desire to fight someone for me with worry.  _ I don’t need your help. I can handle myself. With my terrible powers. _ “What are you doing? What happened?”

I took a breath to prepare myself, which came out way more shaky than I intended.  _ Stupid, Aurora. Don’t make him worry about you. _ “I- I’m fine.” I stammered. “I just… I was trying to use my powers and… I sort of, like, accidentally had a panic attack, I think.”  _ I  _ know _. _ I mentally corrected myself.

I could tell he wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn’t. “No one has panic attacks on  _ purpose _ , Aurora. Has this happened before?”

“Maybe… More than once?” I couldn’t lie to Amery. Ever. And it sucked. I was great at lying to anyone else, even my parents - not that I ever saw them - but Amery and I were so close that he could always just  _ tell _ . And sometimes, it was incredibly annoying.

Amery glared at me in that way that he does when he knows I'm hiding something. “Aurora.” He commanded.

I sighed and crossed my arms. “Okay, fine, it happens a lot. But you weren’t supposed to know that!” I added. “I can take care of myself.”

He rolled his eyes. “You obviously can’t, Rory-”

“Don’t call me that!”

He sighed. “Fine.  _ Aurora _ . No, you can’t take care of yourself! You don’t even know how to use your powers! I have to come fix the darkness for you at least once a week. And besides, how will we hide your powers forever? Mom and dad will find out eventually, we know it’s only one Source per generation. And if the family doesn’t find you, the shadow creatures will. We’ve been hiding this for three years, Aurora!  _ Three years! _ Mom and dad know that you should be developing powers by now. You’re lucky that they haven’t found you out yet. And what’ll you do when I’m gone, huh? Keep pretending to be powerless? They won’t buy that. We’re a pureblood light family, you know this, I know this, they know this, there’s no way they’ll buy that you’re powerless. We need to figure something out-”

At that point, I was completely done with Amery, so I cut him off. “Well, whatever happens, you’re not snitching. You promised me when you found out about my powers three years ago. And I can take care of myself when you leave, you won’t be gone for another year anyways. I’ll learn to use my powers, I don’t care how long it takes or if I have to be thrown in the face of danger to do it. Whatever happens, I am  _ not _ ending up in that forest, you hear?”

Amery looked shocked. I’d never snapped at him like that before, mostly because I’d been too scared that if I was assertive at all, I’d lose my only friend and brother. At this point, I was losing him in another year anyway and he was beginning to distance himself from me, so I didn’t care.

He took a step back. “Alright, alright. I get it. No snitching, no interfering, no doing anything in your life anymore. But can I at least help you with your powers?” He requested.

I sighed. “Yes, of course. Our powers our exact opposites, but that might help.” I suggested.

“Yes, of course!” Amery agreed. “Since they do opposite things, maybe they function oppositely? I create light, you take it away. If I use my powers by putting more light into the world and get rid of the light by taking the light back in, maybe-”

“Maybe I use mine by taking light in from the world and get rid of the darkness by putting the light back out, of course! Amery, you’re a genius!” I interrupted him, suddenly wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He tensed in surprise for a second before hugging me back.

“Glad you’re not mad at me anymore.” He whispered. I looked up at him with mischief in my eyes.

“Oh, I’m definitely mad at you. That was just an excuse to do this!” I pulled an arm out of the hug and smacked him across the face.

He let out a soft “ow” and grabbed my arm, flipping me onto my back and quickly scoring him a kick in the shin. I pushed myself up and shook his hand. “We’ll talk more later, but I think mom and dad are home.”

He listened for a second and, probably hearing the garage door opening, nodded and quickly went back to his room, leaving me alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never had a panic attack, so I have no idea what it's like. I used Wikipedia. If you have any suggestions on how I can improve my writing - specifically the bit where she has a panic attack - tell me!


	6. Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at that, Aurora has parents. And she interacts with them too, wow! Enjoy this I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting, life and writer’s block got in the way.

> “So, Aurora…” My mother began. “Have your powers come in yet?”

Mentally, I paused for a moment. My heart even skipped a beat. But, after years of carefully practicing, I didn’t show any outward reaction to her words. Instead, I paused a moment and simply sighed. “No.” I lied. “I’m starting to think I may just be powerless at this point,” I added solemnly.

My father shook his head. “Powerless… that can’t be right. No one in our family has been powerless in… forever, I think.” He turned to my mother. “Have any of us been powerless before?”

She shook her head. “No. Our elemental blood is too strong.”

While I was busy being incredibly interested in my Hamburger Helper, Amery covered for me. “Well, it could still happen.” He explained. “There’ve been cases of powerless kids in pure families. There was actually a pretty recent case in a fire family. Maybe this is similar.” He concluded. I sent him a mental ‘thank you’ and he nodded.

Our father sighed. “I suppose so. I might have to research that. Power theory and genetics are very interesting subjects, I’d like to learn more about them.” He decided.

I realized that I’d been clutching my fork for dear life and excused myself to calm down. If my parents ever found out about my powers… Especially with Amery leaving for college soon, I’d be dead. Well, more like enslaved.

I walked back to the table, grabbed some plates, and walked over to the sink to begin washing them. Maybe that would end this conversation.

“Well, Aurora, I do hope you get your powers soon. We need someone to continue the family legacy.”

I nearly broke a plate at my mother’s words.

Setting the plate down, I turned slowly to face the rest of my family at the table. “I’m  _ powerless _ , mother. I can’t carry on the legacy.” I said decidedly, maintaining a bored expression but trying not to look like I was directly opposing her, although I was.

“Don’t you  _ mother _ me!”

“I’ll say what I feel like saying!”

Having had enough of my parent’s bullcrap, I left the kitchen without finishing even the plates.

 

Back at my room, I thought about the whole “legacy” thing. Why did our family need to give the shadow creatures a new Source every generation? Why weren’t their current Sources good enough? Why did  _ I _ have to be a Source? There, that was the real question. Why me?

Cliché, I know.

But it’s a valid question.

 

Why me?


End file.
